The Bed Quilt Club 11

The Club met on Wednesday. Pat, Doris, Marg and I were the only ones out of 8 members who were able to attend. The weather certainly didn't cooperate! Think Northern Ontario in the winter. I needn't elaborate.

The Nine Patch block exchange came first. To recap the rules:

1. 3" finished size blocks, 1" finished squares.
2. No solids or whites.
3. The dark squares are at the outside corners and centre.
4. Blocks will be 2 fabrics: light and dark.
5. We have to include every block from the swap in our quilts.
6. We can add as many extra blocks as we want to our own quilt.

These were the 9 Patch blocks for today's swap

Next, Marg showed the pillow shams that she has made to go with her daughter-in-law Darbie's quilt. She shows us how she lined the back of the flying geese patchwork so the shams may be washed without fraying seams.

And finally, here is a progress photo of the quilt I began for my daughter Sarah just before Christmas. Sarah loves authentic Japanese fabrics, including those lovely neutral blues, taupes and greys. All of the fabrics in this quilt are from Japanese companies. The pattern is called Stone Cottage, from Judy Martin's Log Cabin Quilt Book. I hope to have the quilt top completed for the next meeting!

The Bed Quilt Club 10

Our Bed Quilt Club met last week, with Pat, Myrna, Doris, Marg and myself in attendance. We had many quilts to share and I have photos below.

Marg made this incredible quilt for her daughter-in-law Darbie. She's been working on it for many months. This is the information Marg has provided about the quilt:

Central design is by Diana Bouffard, published in Canada Quilts in three installments in February, April and June issues 1992. I expanded the design to king size. It is 124" wide and 105" long. Drunkard's Path blocks are hand pieced. Appliqué is by hand. Balance is machine pieced. Quilting patterns are my own design made specifically for this quilt. It took almost 300 hours for the hand quilting.

This is a close-up of the hand quilting, done in red thread. I can't even describe how gorgeous this quilt is - a real heirloom.

Pat has been working on her Christmas quilt called Christmas Waltz, from the book Six Halves Make A Whole Christmas from The Quilt Branch (Susan Knapp & Mary Jane Mattingly). This pattern is known as a dance around the square.

Myrna is showing us her Christmas quilt called Santa Face Wallhanging, designed by Mary Manis and published in Quilting Today Issue #93. Myrna added extra borders to enlarge the quilt. Buttons will be added to made the eyes after quilting.

Doris shows her mystery quilt, and is trying to decide what to name it. Several suggestions were made, and hopefully she'll tell us her choice at the next meeting in January.

This is a photo of one of 2 quilts that Gwen made from the French Braid Quilts book by Jane Hardy Miller. Gwen brought her finished quilts to a previous meeting that I wasn't able to attend, so I've included the photo here.

And lastly, we traded our Nine Patch blocks for the ongoing exchange. We've decided that multiple blocks may be brought in for trading, as it will take too long to accumulate enough to make our quilts otherwise.

Our next meeting will be in early January, and I'll have my new bed quilt pattern to show then!

Nine Patch Obsession

Lately all I want to do is make scrap Nine Patch blocks. I think it's a reaction to the economic crisis. My Bed Quilt Club has a Nine Patch Exchange in its second year, and I owed several sets of blocks. I've designed a bed quilt pattern just for my blocks, and I can hardly wait to make it. But first, many more blocks must be exchanged!

How to make 3" finished size Nine Patch blocks (these cutting instructions make one block, but I cut my strips about 18" long which makes 12 blocks):

1. Cut 4 light strips 1 1/2" wide by at least 2" long
2. Cut 5 dark strips 1 1/2" wide by at least 2" long
3. Sew the strips together to make these 3 sets:

4. Press seams towards the dark fabric strips.

5. Cut the strip sets into 1 1/2" sections, as below:

5. Sew the strips together to make a block, as below:

Here is my little pile of blocks to date. The two piles below that are for the next exchange at the Bed Quilt Club meeting this week.

I need 225 of these 3" blocks to make my new Nine Patch twin bed quilt pattern. Time to dig into my piles and piles and piles of scraps! It comforts me to spend my time doing this.

The Bed Quilt Club 5

The Bed Quilt Club met while we were away at Quilt Festival. Marg took these photos for me. As a reminder, these are the guidelines:

1. You must be working on a bed quilt.
2. There are no deadlines or pressures or responsibilities.
3. You can Show & Tell any project.
4. Helpful tips and suggestions are welcome.

Pat's Kentucky Log Cabin blocks

Marg's Friendship Star blocks

Doris' Cabin Fever blocks

Doris has also made a pastel squares quilt

The 1st 9 patch block exchange was made. I delivered Mom's and mine before we left. We have hundreds to go before a quilt is possible! These are the guidelines for the exchange:

Rules for the Nine-patch Swap:

1. 3" finished size blocks, 1" finished squares.
2. No solids or whites.
3. The dark squares are at the outside corners and centre.
4. Blocks will be 2 fabrics: light and dark.

The Bed Quilt Club 4

We had our bi-weekly meeting of the Bed Quilt Club yesterday. These are the guidelines:

1. You must be working on a bed quilt.
2. There are no deadlines or pressures or responsibilities.
3. You can Show & Tell any project.
4. Helpful tips and suggestions are welcome.

First I have to admit that collectively we have more years of quilting experience than our country's age. And next I am happy to say that we learn something new at every meeting!

Doris wanted to have a wider assortment of colours at the edges of her blocks, so she showed us her nifty tip for organizing her strips: clothespins with the numbers marked on them (in permanent marker) that correspond to the order that they'll be sewn on the blocks. Doris gets the Tip of the Week prize.

Marg continues work on her Friendship Star.

Marg also shared her beautiful "My Flower Garden" quilt, which she worked on from 1989 - 1997. It is hand appliqued, hand embroidered and hand quilted. The inner green border and blocks were designed by Linda Dennison. The outer Morning Glory border was appliqued using a method published in Quilter's Newsletter magazine.

This is a photo of the hand quilting pattern from the back of Marg's quilt. There was much ooing and ahhing.

Pat has added more strips to her Kentucky Log Cabin (pattern by Judy Martin).

I am working on the centres for my next set of blocks from Sherri Hisey's Oh, My Tangled Stars!

Myrna is making this quilt top for a friend's sunroom. I'm wondering if I have a sunroom will she make one for me? Myrna wins the Luscious Colour Award.

Pat has proposed that we begin a challenge called North Stars Over Indiana published in McCalls Quilting, February 2000 issue. We will each bring a set of nine-patch blocks to the Bed Quilt Club meetings, enough for each member. Eventually we will have enough blocks to make our own nine-patch scrap quilts.

Rules for the Nine-patch Swap:

1. 3" finished size blocks, 1" finished squares.
2. No solids or whites.
3. The dark squares are at the outside corners and centre.
4. Blocks will be 2 fabrics: light and dark.

My mother and I will miss the next meeting as we'll be at the Chicago Quilt Festival spending too much money. So we will hand in our nine-patch blocks before we leave.